Formatting your client-friendly proposal

After extensive research and analysis of your proposal, you have just completed one of your best writing ever. Now its time to make sure that your proposal is well formatted. Formatting is an essential and key aspect of every client proposal. Your clients will appreciate and read a proposal that is presented in a visually pleasing manner before they try to read a proposal that looks cluttered or unorganized.

There are four guidelines you should follow in order to make your proposal visually pleasing. You should use headings and subheadings, an easily readable typeface, consistent margins, and consecutive page numbers.

It will be easier for the client to differentiate between the various items you need to discuss in your proposal if you visually separate them. Headings and subheadings clearly indicate what topic is about to be discussed and help keep the client oriented throughout the proposal. Differentiate your headings from your sub-headings by using Italics for your sub-heading and a smaller font size when compared to your headings.

Use a typeface that is easy for the client to read. Choose a classic style that is familiar to most people. Unique or creative fonts may not be read as quickly as other, fonts like “Courier” or “Arial” or “Times”

Make sure you use consistent margins throughout the proposal. Having an ample amount of white space around the text in your proposal will keep the document from looking crowded and give it a neat appearance. Usually a 1” or a 1.25” would give your proposal a good and neat look.

Number the pages of your proposal consecutively to help the client locate the information more easily. Some clients are inclined to number of pages starting at “1” at the beginning of each new section within the proposal. However, doing so creates confusion for the client when you refer to a page number in the proposal that appears more than once. This is important when writing formal proposals since they are longer and include more sections. Avoid other forms of page numberings such as Roman letters which might not be very easy to read and follow.